SEARCHING for a new planet

Students embark on a mission to find a new planet for humans. Each group explores one planet through a 360° Thinglink image and creates a report. They exchange their findings via audio with another group, then transcribe the information they receive. In the following session, the class decides which planet is the most suitable for humans. 

• Target Age: Sixth grade

• Target Language Level (based on CEFR): A2

• Location: Classroom

Reception: 

• Listening to audio media and recordings: Can understand and extract the essential information from short, recorded passages dealing with predictable everyday matters that are delivered slowly and clearly (p.59). 

• Written reception: Can understand short, simple texts containing the highest frequency vocabulary, including a proportion of shared international vocabulary items (p.60).

• Reading instructions:  Can understand simple, brief instructions provided that they are illustrated and not written in continuous text (p.64). 

Production:

• Sustained monologue, describing experience: Can use simple descriptive language to make brief statements about and compare objects and possessions (p.70).

• Sustained monologue, putting a case: Can explain what she likes or dislikes about something, why he/she prefers one thing to another, making simple, direct comparisons (p.72).

• Written reports and essays: Can give his/her impressions and opinions in writing about topics of personal interest (e.g. lifestyles and culture, stories), using basic everyday vocabulary and expressions (p.77). 

Interaction: 

• Understanding an interlocutor: Can understand what is said clearly, slowly and directly to him/her in simple everyday conversation; can be made to understand, if the speaker can take the trouble (p.84). 

• Informal discussion: Can exchange opinions and compare things and people using simple language (p.86). 

• Students will be able to understand the main ideas from another group’s audio report about a planet.

• Students will be able to describe characteristics of planets using simple sentences and key vocabulary.

• Students will be able to do a summary of the report with basic descriptive language to sent as an audio.

• Students will be able to share their opinion and listen to others to agree on one planet during the final discussion.

• Students will be able to use simple comparative and descriptive words correctly.

Before the app task cycle, the teacher should set up a computer for each group of students and provide them the link to the Tinglink image (10 minutes).

• Link to Thinglink

• Handouts

• Equipment: one laptop per group

Pre-task (1 session):

During the pre-task, the teacher will introduce the challenge, through a newspaper news explaining that the Earth is becoming uninhabitable. As astronauts, the students will need to explore the space to find a suitable planet to live in. In order to complete their mission efficiently, the teacher will encourage the students to create a visual glossary and show them an example of a planet’s report.

Once the students are familiar with both the task and the vocabulary, the teacher will provide them the link and explain the instructions on how to use Thinglink. 

Main task (2 sessions):

In the main task, students will use the app Thinglink to explore and evaluate potential planets for human habitation, as Earth has become uninhabitable.

Working in groups, students are assigned a planet and must complete a detailed report assessing its suitability for life. To guide them, they will use a checklist worksheet to analyse key aspects such as temperature, atmosphere, natural resources, presence of water or food sources, and possible forms of life. This ensures they systematically evaluate each planet according to specific criteria.

When students access Thinglink, they will first encounter a mission briefing explaining their goal: to find a new planet to live on. Each group will then be directed to their assigned planet. By clicking on it, they will see an interactive image along with essential data about its main features.

To support students in structuring their observations and outputs, scaffolding materials are provided. These include sentence starters and structured guidance, which help students organise their ideas clearly and produce coherent, academically appropriate language for both the written and oral tasks.

After examining their planet, each group must decide whether it could sustain human life. To demonstrate their findings, students will produce two complementary outputs:

• A written report, in which they summarize their planet’s main characteristics, evaluate its advantages and disadvantages, and justify their final decision on whether it is habitable or not. The checklist worksheet guides them through each criterion, while the scaffolding ensures their descriptions are clear, structured, and detailed.

• An audio report, where students orally present the key points of their written report. The goal is to share essential information with another group in a clear and engaging way, simulating an interplanetary communication between space teams. Using the scaffolding materials, they highlight only the most relevant information, such as environmental conditions, potential risks, and reasons for recommending or rejecting the planet.

In addition to producing their own reports, each group will receive an audio report from another team. They will then carry out a critical listening activity using the same checklist format to evaluate the other group’s planet. Individually, each student will fill in their listening checklist, and afterwards, the group will compare answers, discuss differences, and support peers who may need clarification.

By the end of the activity, students will have analysed information about at least two planets (their own and another) allowing them to compare, contrast, and reflect on which planet would be more suitable for human life. Once the listening and comparison stages are complete, students will “return to Earth” to share their conclusions and reflect on the mission as a whole.

Post-task (1 session):

Once the students have returned to Earth, the class will work together to decide which planet has the best conditions for living. To do this, they will review their reports and hold a class summit to discuss and reach a collective decision.

Students will work in groups and use a discussion scaffolding (sentence starters, structure, etc.) and a comparison and superlative scaffolding to help them create their sentences and express their ideas clearly during the summit. First, each group will discuss and agree on what they want to say, using these supports to build complete and accurate sentences. Then, a designated spokesperson from each group will share their answer aloud with the class. The role of spokesperson will rotate so that a different student speaks in each round.

As each group shares their ideas, the teacher will write all the answers on the board. This allows students to see, compare, and reflect on the information gathered. At the end of the activity, the class will review all the ideas together and decide which planet has the best conditions to live on.

Finally, students will complete a self-reflection card, where they will write about what they have learned, what they found interesting, and how they contributed to the discussion. 

In order to assess the activity, the teacher, and the students, will complete some assessment worksheets to check their understanding of the task. Firstly, during the main task phase, students will complete a checklist report about their classmates’ planet. This worksheet will show the teacher the students’ understanding of the main vocabulary. Moreover, at the end of the activity, pupils will complete a self reflection card, where they reflect on the knowledge that they have acquired during the activity.

Furthermore, the teacher will complete a rubric, assessing the structure and vocabulary, used during the written report, that students would need to complete before recording the audio. Then, in order to assess their speaking skills, the teacher will also complete a rubric. Finally, during the discussion activity, the professor will assess the students' interaction by observing their group work.